while americans hold the distinction of being the world’s fattest population
TRANSCRIPT
While Americans hold the distinction of being the world’s
fattest population
more and more young children around the globe are becoming
overweight.
Globalization fuels the world wide expansion of the giants of the
American food industry
and as KFC and Whoppers spread to other lands, so do
American-style food preferences and portion sizes.
Relatively cheap food, high in nutritionally empty calories is now
within the reach of families in developed and developing
countries alike.
More families in developing countries now have access to TVs, labor saving devices and
the most seductive of all gadgets for children,
video games.
28% of the world’s two billion children are underweight
17% are overweight
Nearly half the world’s children are soon to be either
too fat or too thin.
These two faces of malnutrition are two sides of one coin and
carry the same message
Children are not getting the food that supports healthy growth and
development
The World Health Organization calls overeating the world’s
“fastest growing form of malnourishment.”
For the first time in history, the number of people worldwide who
are both overweight and malnourished,
estimated at 1.1 billion,
equals the number who are underweight and malnourished.
The global spread of diet-linked disease presents one of the
greatest medical challenges of the 21st century.
Obesity in China has quadrupled in the past decade
Obesity in the urban middle class in India is epidemic
In Columbia, 41% of adults are overweight.
Parts of Europe, Asia, and South America mirror the US, with reports of childhood obesity
doubling in both boys and girls between 1980 and 1996.
Obesity rates are rising among urban Asian children
In 2002, 16% in Thailand
20% in China,
13% in Vietnam.
Worldwide, impoverished urban children are likely to be the fattest
future adult generation.
The most recognized corporate logo in China, aside from
Chinese companies
is KFC
Next to Santa Claus, the most recognized figure in the world
is Ronald McDonald
In the United States
one-fourth of children under the age of two
don’t eat fruits and vegetables every day
and one-fourth of all vegetables consumed
are french fries.